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Posted by Grete, on January 11th, 2010  Devyn Kell joined the League to save lives as a doctor and help those whose lives were being torn apart by conflict. He didn’t bank on the League being one of the corrupt oppressors involved in the war and in one moment, throws his career and nearly his life away to save an innocent child. Hunted by both the League and an old enemy with a family grudge, he becomes a runner to bring supplies, medicines and aid to those in need. Alix Garran is a slave offered her freedom and the lives of her mother and sister if she can bring in the notorious rebel. When an opening is made in Devyn’s crew, she’s forced to apply for the engineering role and find evidence that will convict Devyn and his crew. If she can’t find it, she’ll have to fabricate it and time is ticking. Not expecting to find a cause she can believe in, or people she can trust, Alix finds herself horribly torn between her family, and a man she can finally respect.
I expected this book to follow along the same timeline as Born of Night and Born of Fire and was surprised to find it was about their now grown up children. Devyn is the son of Syn and Shahara and some of the major cast of characters are offpsring from Nykyrian and Kiara, his crew and friends. I thought that was a great idea! Sometimes you get to see what happens after a book is finished, not often you get to see what happens nearly a generation later. I thought the character of Devyn was nicely written as a blend of his parents temperaments but not a mirror of either. Alix is a character that brought out a lot of sympathy from me and at times I empathised a lot with. Her life has never been her own, enslaved along with her mother and sister to her own father. It was a nice switcharound that it was the female lead character in this book that had the traumatic life instead of the male, although saying that, Devyn has his own issues too. I liked that the parents were kept out of the book as much as possible and when they appeared or ‘interfered’ it was called for in the story rather than being in it just for the sake of it. This isn’t as much of an action book as the first two but when it happened it was explosive and fierce and highlighted Devyn’s nature of preferring to heal than harm. That’s not to say he’s not willing to fight and happens to be very good at it. Alix is just gutsy, even as self-effacing as she is, having had enough of being her father’s punching bag. Two brilliant leading characters who you can admire and love. There is more humour in this book also, maybe due to the larger cast but their banter is very funny and there are a couple of scenes that made me laugh out loud. Luckily I was reading at home!
A very engaging, exciting and passionate book that I highly recommend you read! I do hope there are more coming in this series.
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Posted by Grete, on January 9th, 2010  C.I. Syn the deadly, predatory and notorious filch has been accused of an horrific rape and murder. The warrant out for his capture is picked up by Seax Shahara Dagan, desperate for money to pay for her sister’s medical bills. Had she not been in such need, not even she would have gone after the son of one of the worst criminals in history. Branded by his father’s sins and a universal assumption that the son would follow in his evil footsteps, Shahara goes in fully prepared to meet a monster. What she finds though is what she least expects, an honourable man trying to escape a past that continually haunts him.
After finishing Born of Night, I was eager to get right into the escapades of Nykyrian’s best friend but it took a while for me to get a copy. I thought I might have to re-read the first book to get back into the setting but only a few pages in, I was well into the story. I love how Sherrilyn Kenyon can write so astutely from another’s viewpoint in a different book. Born of Night was Nykyrian’s story in which Syn featured quite a lot and while I liked him, he was a grumpy soul with obvious issues from his past. In this book, seeing life from his point of view told me so much more. As I learned his history and how he’d been treated just because of who his father was, my heart just went out to him. Shahara’s struggle to keep her family together and their ability to get themselves into trouble, expecting her to bail them out all the time was well written too and her love tinged with exasperation and weariness were very tangible. I loved these two characters together, right from their first encounter, there were sparks flying. As the story progressed and perceptions changed for them both, I just fell in love with them more and knowing what was likely to happen at the end, made it all the more heartbreaking. Everything fit so well together, the pace of the book, the action, drama and love scenes and at no point did I feel any of it was gratuitous. The only negative thing I can find to say is she re-uses one or two phrases which can get annoying but it’s a minor thing and those phrases do carry a lot of weight.
As an added note, these books are not just Dark-Hunters re-created in space but their own unique stories, completely separate from the rest of Sherrilyn’s work and even if you aren’t a sci-fi fan, if you enjoy her books, definately read these!
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Posted by tony, on October 10th, 2009 
The Ghost Brigades is the second book from John Scalzi, set in the same world as Old Man’s War. There are couple of cross-over characters but the main protagonist from Old Man’s War is not present (although he is mentioned). The story revolves around a few characters (including Jane Sagan) which sets it immediately apart from it’s predecessor and indeed The Ghost Brigades is a better book.
Three intelligent races appear to be ganging up against the humans backed with knowledge from a human traitor, and it’s up to the CDF’s Special Forces unit to find out what’s going on and shut it down before it turns into a disaster. But to achieve it, they have to recreate the traitor to learn exactly what their enemy is up to.
The Ghost Brigades reads more smoothly than Old Man’s War and the increased number of viewpoints throughout the story give it more depth. On one level this is a less personal story, more a story of humanity’s attempt to survive in the great Universe; and yet it retains a very personal core in the form of Jared Dirac and his struggle to work out who he really is or might become. We learn more about the CDF’s technology, get a hint at some greater machine turning in the background behind all the action and experience some thrilling and tense combat action. Character interaction is excellent and while the nature of the CDF special forces might seem to prevent much character growth, Scalzi manages to do it anyway in a satisfying way.
The science / sci-fi element is interesting although I’m not a fan enough of sci-fi to tell you if it’s credible or crazy. Sclazi also manages to provide some truly interesting aliens races to think about who are more than just humanoids with head prosthetics.
I’m a sucker for all the emotional triggers in this book (I’ll say no more in case I give too much away) so was very moved and touched by the latter few chapters. That results in me almost forgiving the initially slow and slightly clumsy start, but not enough to give it 5 stars.
The Ghost Brigades is a worthy successor to Old Man’s War, and in many ways surpasses it. Strongly recommended.
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Posted by tony, on October 2nd, 2009  It’s a while since I read anything and it’s even longer since I read any sci-fi. I ended up reading Old Man’s War thanks to Twitter and Wordpress. If you browse the web for authors and blogs and sci-fi / fantasy you’ll eventually come across John Scalzi (his blog is here). I enjoyed his blog posts, and followed him on Twitter. Eventually I decided to order his first book (along with books from several other authors I’ve never read but have heard of thanks to Twitter / Blogs), and that first book is Old Man’s War. It was published in 2005 and got a Hugo nomination for Best Novel in 2006 (it came 3rd).
Old Man’s War tells the story of Colonial Defence Force soldier John Perry. New applicants to the CDF join when they are 75, after signing a letter of intent at 65 years of age. Recruits join for a couple of reasons, not least among them is the belief or rumour that the CDF somehow makes them young again – why else would they want soliders aged 75 unless they can give them a fresh lease of life.
The book is interesting and engaging straight off the bat, the base premise is novel and provides a stepping stone for the overall story. This isn’t a complex story or an overly reflective book, but it is a very personal story (the first-person perspective enhances the impact). John’s wife has died, and he’s got few ties left on earth. Joining the army and getting a new lease of life somehow seems like the best thing to do. The arc follows his journey both physical and emotional as he discovers what the rest of the universe is actually like and how the human colonies out there are coping. The CDF is constantly fighting battles against a broad range of enemies of all times.
We spend time initially with John and some people he meets at the early stages of his recruitment. They engage in various battles, learn the truth of the CDF recruitment plan and eventually discover that a throw away comment about the Ghost Brigade was more than just a joke.
The writing is no frills and to the point, it’s not possible to tell if this is John Scalzi’s normal style or if it’s intended to reflect John Perry’s view of the world, either way it suits my reading needs and allows you to engage with the characters easily. There is humour and sadness and while the emotional pieces aren’t deeply moving they’re certainly engaging. The story of folk joining a sci-fi based military organisation and being sent off-world to fight enemies with more than 2 legs isn’t a new one, but Scalzi’s humour and presentation of Perry’s thoughts lift this story above the plot and make it well worth reading. I ordered the sequel (The Ghost Brigades) as soon as I’d put Old Man’s War down.
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Posted by Grete, on September 30th, 2009  The League and their powerful and ruthless assassins rule the Ichidian Universe. No one leaves, to retire is to die.
Command Assassin Nykyrian Quiakades is one of the League’s most feared and vicious assassins and is the only man who managed to stay alive for more than a few hours after refusing to fulfill a contract, an act of treason and punishable by death. So he does the only thing he can, he vanishes.
A dangerous predator of the highest order, he forms an organisation that would become a shield between the league and their contracts on innocents caught in the cross-fire of political gain. With only 3 people in the entire universe he can remotely stand to be around, hunted by the League and several others who would also see him dead, he accepts a contract to protect a dancer, Kiara Zamir whose father’s political ambitions have made her a target. As her life becomes more dangerous and attempts on her life more desperate, they have to go against everything they’ve been taught from a young age. Trust no one or they will destroy you.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Born of Night. Interesting premise, but a Sherrilyn Kenyon book set in space? hmm. She has become one of my favourite authors through her Dark-Hunter series, but would the things that make those books so absorbing, translate into a science-fiction setting. The answer is yes. Oh yes.
I started reading it this morning and I couldn’t put it down til I’d finished, I was utterly hooked. I was interested to read from the Author’s note at the start that it had been published before, but a different version, with what I guess has a lot of the violence or sexual content removed or toned down. I never managed to get hold of a copy and in all honesty am now glad I didn’t. This book is the one she wanted to release, whole and not hiding away any of life’s darker side and I am so glad she was given the chance.
The setting was good, the universe she created is diverse and interesting but where it stands out (and I know I’ve said this before and I will say it again) are her amazing characters. Nykyrian is larger than life and oh so hot, even when he is being the dangerous and vicious assassin he was trained to be. Kiara is just lovable, her naivety endearing and after everything she goes through, still manages keeps that trait but gains more strength in who she is and what she wants. The secondary characters of Syn, Hauk and Jayne are brilliant too and I know the next book centres on Syn and what happens with him towards the end. It will make an interesting read but I’m not sure if he will quite match up to Nykyrian. I will have to wait and see!
All in all, a fantastic read and if you like Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter books, you need to read this, and don’t let the fact it’s technically science-fiction put you off.
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Very young children eat their books, literally devouring their contents. This is one reason for the scarcity of first editions of Alice in Wonderland and other favorites of the nursery.
Rosenbach, A. S. W.
About BookThing! BookThing! is a website where Grete can indulge her passion for books. There are reviews covering a range of genres (paranormal romance, crime, fantasy, romantic comedy), bibliographies for selected authors, features and sometimes the odd free book giveaway!
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